Sanitation contributes to the health of all people, and a sanitation issue well recognized is that of public door handles, such as those used on restroom doors. Providing cleanliness of such handles has long been a challenge, one addressed by previously proposed devices, but a problem yet to be adequately solved. One basic concern is that a properly designed device should be separate from a given door, that is, a separate handle mechanism not requiring door replacement. Doors to publicly used restrooms and industrially used doors are often heavy, sometimes fire rated, and consequently expensive. It is therefore desirable to either install or replace a handle mechanism rather than an entire door, and it is also important to use existing latch mechanisms. Individual disposable handle protection devices have been proposed, but create the issue of disposable waste, an item often resulting in litter.
The amount of space required to sanitize a given door mechanism is of further concern. Most restrooms are already crowded. Further, health codes must be met, and some devices may not conform to such. Handles in the medical field are of concern also. Typical hospital doors, for example, are oversized and heavy, requiring a handle with enough leverage for a person to engage and disengage the latch. Hospital door handles are therefore typically of a leverage type, with extensions beyond that of a rotary knob mechanism. It is further desirable, in the interest of economy, to provide a portion of the handle with a sanitary cover, whereby excessive quantities of sanitation material are not expended. Another reason to provide only a portion of the leveraged handle with sanitary provision is that another part of the handle may need a more industrial surface, for use by gloved workman and the like, wherein the more fragile surfaces covered by the sanitary material are not used for heavy-handed operation of the handle. The present sanitary handle apparatus solves these problems in providing a sanitary means for protecting an individual from touching a handle surface previously touched by another.